


with friends like these

by thessalonike (starblessed)



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29233587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starblessed/pseuds/thessalonike
Summary: Alex proves ghost hiccups are a thing. Naturally, it becomes everybody's problem.(In which Sunset Curve puts their problem solving skills to the test by bashing their heads together, Alex makes a fool out of himself, and Julie probably doesn't want to ask.)
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters
Comments: 5
Kudos: 77





	with friends like these

**Author's Note:**

> this is not the fandom i anticipated falling into, but indeed i have fallen... in love with three himbos.
> 
> i'm working on a few prompts for febuwhump month, but instead of turning into anything remotely angsty, this just... rapidly got absurd. zero regrets. yes, alex is always the one who has to suffer.

“Dude,” says Reggie, after the third — or maybe fourth — time it happens. “You... doin’ okay?”

Alex doesn’t reply. He hunches down in his seat, back against the leather cushion. Curling up like a slinky seems to suit him just fine, because from there, he just... glowers. 

Luke is fighting back a grin, and failing. “Yeah. He’s fine. Arent’cha, pal?”

If it were up to Alex, he wouldn’t say anything at all... but his body decides to chime in for him. He jolts with a sudden, sharp ' _hicc!'_ before clamping a hand over his mouth.

“Yup,” he answers through his palm. “Doing fine.”

His friends aren’t as subtle as they think. Luke couldn’t hide his grin if someone were paying him; Reggie’s shoulders wouldn’t be shaking like that if he weren’t cracking up, and _I can hear you, Reg, thanks a lot_ — another hiccup tries to escape, and Alex presses his mouth firmly shut. He’s not gonna give these guys the pleasure. 

“It’s just — I dunno —“ Reggie snorts, fighting to catch his breath. “I didn’t realize ghosts could _get_ hiccups.”

“Hasn’t happened to me before.” Draped bodily over the piano, in that irreverent, lazy-cat way of his, Luke balances his chin in his palms. “Though, I guess if it’d happen to anyone...”

“Just luckier than we are, I guess,” Reggie quips, reaching out to pat Alex on the shoulder. He’s not expecting it. The impact jars another hiccup loose, and Alex spins around, hand clamped over his mouth, to glower at his friend.

Reggie holds up his hands, while Luke drops his head in his, shoulders shaking.

“Can we talk about how, like, you still have the exact same hiccups you did when you were alive? Like...” For a minute, Luke’s hands are more eloquent than his mouth; their owner is too busy being entertained. “They’re so squeaky, man!” he finally exclaims. “You’re — like you’re up here —“ He gestures somewhere over his head, which _definitely_ isn’t Alex’s actual height. “And your hiccups are up here!”

As one, the three bandmates’ heads tip back to stare at the ceiling — like they expect to find one of Alex’s hiccups just hanging out up there with the floating chairs. On cue, Alex lets out another sharp _'hiCc!'_

“We can’t even eat anything, _how_ did you—“

“It’s a nervous thing, okay?” Alex swipes a hand over his face, trying to salvage any hint of dignity from this situation. He wouldn’t be so silly if the stupid things just had better timing. No, they had to come on right in the middle of a chat with Willie, when the other boy was so close Alex could have felt his breath — if they had to breathe — and for a minute he swore —

Well. It doesn’t matter what he thought was going to happen, because he had to start hiccupping right in front of Willie, and ruin the whole moment. 

To say Alex couldn’t poof back to the studio fast enough is an understatement. Forget _Hot Dog_. Now, Willie’s just gonna start calling him _Squeaky Toy._

“You know,” he mutters, “instead of making fun of me, you could help me get rid of them.”

“Sorry, man. I know some tricks for regular hiccups, but ghost hiccups are a whole different ballgame.” Reggie leans over the back of his chair. “I mean, you can’t drink water, no spoonfuls of sugar, it’s not like holding our breath is gonna work —“

Alex, who’d been trying to do just that, exhales in a huge rush. There’s no point; it’s not as if they actually need to breathe.

Luke slaps the top of the piano before pointing a finger at his friends. “Scare ‘em away.”

“Dude, we’re already _ghosts_. What’s scarier than we are?”

Luke tilts his head, brows furrowing. “Julie early in the morning.”

Reggie winces. “Yeah. Good point." He takes a moment to consider before springing back up again, eyes bright. "Ooh, maybe we send Alex to wake Julie up _super early_ tomorrow morning —“

“Tomorrow? Dude, how long do you think these are gonna last?” Alex sits boot upright, gaping up at his friends. Another hiccup jolts his shoulders, emphasizing the point. “They’re just hiccups!”

“Ghost hiccups!“

“We don’t know what we’re dealin’ with,” Luke chimes in — just to stir the pot, and Alex knows it, but when he turns an alarmed expression on his friend, Luke looks totally innocent. “Hey... it’s okay, man,” he declares, sliding off the piano sideways and reaching out to grasp Alex’s shoulder. “We’re gonna get through this. Together.”

Alex offers up a very unimpressed _‘hIICc!’_

Luke gives his shoulder a shake. “Exactly!”

“ _Maybe_ — hmm, no.” At least Reggie’s trying to be helpful, even if he is using every last ounce of his brain power to think up some kind of cure. “Can’t eat peanut butter... don’t have any chickens... honestly, Alex, I don’t know if you’re flexible enough for yoga...”

“I got it!” Luke bounces, clapping loud enough to startle another sharp hiccup from Alex. His grin is wide, perfectly proud of himself. “Cartwheels!”

Alex blinks at him. It takes a minute to be sure that yeah, no, he’s hearing this right — not matter how much he’d like not to be. “I don’t like this idea,” he declares.

“Well, if you’ve got a _better_ one —“

Alex rears up, ready to suggest literally anything else — but another sharp squeak cuts him short. This one actually hurts his chest. He falls back; his pout probably makes him look like a little kid, but it's not like he can help it. 

“I don’t know, man,” he finally says, “but I would _love_ for the ghost hiccups to be gone!”

Luke takes several large steps back, spreading his arms wide — an open invitation. “Then,” he declares, “cartwheels!”

And that’s how Alex, against his better judgement, ends up tumbling head over heels straight into his drum kit, almost breaking _multiple things_ at once.

“Ooh.” Reggie cringes back, swinging his legs from his perch up in the loft — where he evacuated to after Alex almost crashed into him. “Try to _avoid_ hitting the hard stuff, bro!”

“Yeah, I’ll just crash into your head! It’s soft as a marshmallow.” Alex pushes himself up, aching. Thankfully, his drum set isn’t visibly damaged. All his bones feel intact too — even if those probably can’t break anymore. He takes a minute, holding completely still. As the seconds pass, his brows slowly creep up. Sure, it hadn’t been a successful carthwheel, but if jumping and tumbling are the key —

He smacks his head on his cymbal when a massive hiccup jolts him.

“Agh!” Alex falls to the ground — glad for an excuse to be dramatic, if only to hide how much that knock to the head _hurt_. “That’s it! I can’t take this anymore!”

Luke glances around at the carnage Alex’s tumbling has left in his wake. “I don’t think our studio can take it anymore.”

“In retrospect,” says Reggie, “yoga might’ve been safer.”

“You’re never getting me to try yoga with you, Reg,” Alex says, still facedown on the floor. “Give it up.”

“You say that _now_ ,” Reggie replies. “But when you’re _super_ _grateful_ to me for curing your ghost hiccups…”

His words cut off abruptly. Alex isn’t actually interested, but silence is so unlike Reggie that he lifts his head anyways.

Reggie’s wide eyes, half a hair away from his face, actually do give him a jolt.

“ _Whaaa—_ “ Alex quickly scrambles upright, spinning on his knees to put much-needed distance between himself and Reggie. “What are you doing?”

“Scaring you!” Reggie blinks, then straightens you. “Did it work?”

“The only thing scary about you’s your ghost breath,” Alex retorts. The hiccups agree, at least; he hiccups again, hard enough to make him bounce.

“If I woke up and found Reggie all up in _my_ face…” Luke muses.

“It’d just be another nap time with Reginald,” replies Alex, rolling his eyes. 

“What’s the point of sleeping in the same bed if we’re all _distant_ from each other —“

“We don’t even need sleep anymore, it doesn’t matter!” Luke holds up a hand, cutting Reggie off before he can start in again on the importance of closeness during nap time (in other words, why they can’t blame him for clinging like a starfish in his sleep). “That ain’t the point. The point _is…_ ”

“I’m stuck with these things.”

“I mean…” Reggie’s voice is a suspicious squeak, the sound inching closer and closer to Alex. “There are plenty of options…”

“Tickle me, Reginald, and you’re gonna die all over again.”

Reggie falls back, dejected.

“Clearly I’m cursed,” Alex declares, flopping back against the side of the couch.

“Nuh-uh! No.” Luke gestures wildly again, scrambling for the solution, before seeming to grab one out of thin air. “It’s okay. I’ve got it. I know how we can fix this.” When Alex’s only response is to stare up at him, he leans forward, face painfully earnest. “Just trust me, okay?”

The worst part, Alex realizes, is he absolutely does.

* * *

Julie pushes the studio doors open, and takes two steps inside, before stopping short. For a second, she just stares; her left foot bounces behind her, urging her to do an about-face and just walk away. That would be the smart thing to do.

Since the band entered her life, “smart” hasn’t always been an option.

“Uhh…” Instead of running away, she steps forward, hands settling on her hips. “Do I wanna ask?”

“Hey, Julie,” Reggie chirps, sounding way too cheerful for having his best friend’s leg flailing inches from his face. “What’s up?”

“Alex,” says Julie, pointing out the obvious.

Luke leans around Alex’s legs, angling to catch a glimpse of him past a curtain of blond hair. “Actually, I think he’s kinda down…”

“Don’t say that!” shouts Alex from somewhere near the floor. “Don’t talk about falling down or I _swear_ —“

His legs flail in the air again and he almost loses his balance. Reggie and Luke are too quick, steadying him on both sides. After a minute, his arms are able to support his weight again, and he adjusts his handstand to carry it.

It could be a team building exercise. Maybe this is just what Sunset Curve does in their spare time. Maybe Reggie’s finally gotten Alex into yoga. Julie weighs all these options against the question of whether she really wants to know… but if she walks away from this scene, there’s no way she’ll be able to rest easy tonight.

“Why are you guys doing handstands?”

“It’s better than the cartwheels,” Luke replies, and Julie really doesn’t want to know about that one.

“Okay, better question…” She sidesteps the table, which they’ve at least moved out of the way, and perches on the edge of the couch. “Is Alex okay?”

“That's a great question!” Alex’s voice is strained, drifting up from an angle that frankly shouldn’t exist. “I’ve been like this for… uhh, five minutes now? My arms hurt, my back hurts, I see three of everything…”

“Oh, wow,” says Julie.

Alex’s balance suddenly gives out again. His sneakers feet flail, nearly catching Reggie in the face. Reggie steadies him at the waist, giving him a quick pat on the butt — which really doesn’t help with balance.

“I can taste my own brain!” Alex groans.

“What’s it taste like?” asks Reggie, genuinely intrigued.

“Like lobster!”

“Just a little longer, man.” It’s Luke’s turn to pat Alex’s butt, which he does with the enthusiasm of a drummer. “Hang in there!”

“Can everyone _please_ stop touching my butt?”

Julie leans forward on her elbows, head tilted. There’s got to be a name for the shade of red Alex’s face has become, but it’s definitely not in your standard rainbow. “So, was there a reason for this, or…”

“Sometimes we like to branch out, stretch our muscles,” Reggie replies. “If the music thing fizzles out, we could always try ghost gymnastics!”

“I dunno if you’ve noticed,” says Luke, “but he hasn’t hiccupped _once_.”

“Hiccups?” Julie sits upright, gaping at them. “You’re doing all this for hiccups?”

“Well, a spoonful of sugar ain’t exactly gonna work…”

Alex chooses this exact moment to pass out, or something like it. He falls forward without warning, arms giving out under him. It’s like watching a tree come down on somebody’s house. When he lands, the impact seems to shake the entire studio. Everyone winces at once — but Alex is the only one groaning.

As soon as Julie is sure he hasn’t landed on anything fragile, or any fragile parts of himself, she turns an incredibly unimpressed gaze back up to the other two boys.

“I hope getting rid of the hiccups was worth a broken back.”

Reggie offers up a little jazzhands. “You know what they say. Solve a problem by creating an even bigger problem!”

“Ow,” contributes Alex from the floor.

“But ---” Luke holds up a finger. “He’s not hiccupping.”

On cue, Alex gives a sharp, squeaky _'hICC!'_

**Author's Note:**

> and then julie rescued alex from the himbos, they had a chill movie marathon, and his hiccups vanished after five minutes.
> 
> ( anxiety hiccups are a real thing --- my sister gets them! )


End file.
